Report: Deserters Flew On U.s. Plane

OTTAWA -- Five Soviet army deserters given asylum in Canada two weeks ago were flown from Pakistan aboard an unmarked U.S. government jet, a Canadian newspaper reported Thursday.

The Ottawa Citizen, quoting security experts and sources recently in Pakistan, said the United States and Pakistan were involved in the operation.

The report said the deserters from Soviet-occupied Afghanistan were turned over to Canadian authorities in Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan, arriving in Canada on Nov. 20.

According to the Citizen, an unmarked U.S. aircraft flew the deserters out of Islamabad on Nov. 19. The source did not say if the plane was a military jet or belonged to a government agency.

Sources close to the operation told the newspaper that intelligence officers from several Western powers met with the deserters in safe houses near Peshawar, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in the weeks prior to the flight out.

It was unclear where the prisoners transferred to a Canadian Forces aircraft.

The Canadian government has refused to detail its involvement in the clandestine operation. The government became involved only after aborted attempts by the Canadian-Ukranian Immigrant Aid Society to free the men.

Paul Fraser, a spokesman for the External Affairs Department, refused Thursday to confirm or deny U.S. involvement in the operation.

The five Soviets, now living in Toronto, were given special visas by the federal government to remain in the country and find work.

At least one of the deserters was held at a rebel base in Afghanistan for about five years. The others were held more than three years.